Augusto Arruda

He died on January 22, 1964, at his residence in Fajã de Baixo, Ponta Delgada, aged 75, Augusto Rebelo Arruda, who was the pioneer and great promoter of tourism in the island of São Miguel.

He was born on February 25, 1888 in Ponta Delgada, a bachelor’s degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, practiced law and was a notary public in Ponta Delgada.
In 1919 he was elected deputy by the list of the Republican Conjunction; in 1921, he was a non-elected candidate for the National Reconstitution Action Party and in 1925 he was elected by the Portuguese Republican Party. In the city of Ponta Delgada, he also held the position of president of the City Council (1919-1922) and president of the General Board of the District (1925). During his political activity in the local organizations he left some important works in the city of Ponta Delgada, such as: assembly of the telephone network inaugurated in 1924, construction of oil depots of Tagus Oil Company to supply navigation and municipalization of meat and energy electric. As MP he defended the renewal of the concession for the manufacture of sugar beet. With the installation of the military dictatorship, it was disconnected from political activity.
In 1933, together with Vasco Bensaúde and other Micaelenses, he founded the Terra Nostra Society, which was dedicated to the exploration of tourism on the island of São Miguel. He was the delegate of the company, transformed Furnas into an authentic tourist center, . He was also a lawyer for the Bensaúde group.
Founder of the Azorean Society of Air Transport (SATA), delivered the speech at the inaugural ceremony of his flights, on June 15, 1947, at the then Santana Field of Aviation.
Being one of the largest pineapple producers in São Miguel, the pineapple trade owed him the most complete exploitation, giving a forced culture new packaging processes and the first preserves.
He was consul of Turkey in Ponta Delgada.
He was decorated by the government in 1989, posthumously, with the insignia of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit.

The Funeral

His funeral took place from his residence where the body was in a burning chamber, following in funerary car for the family’s deposit in the cemetery of São Joaquim. The parish priest of the Fajã de Baixo, Father José Ribeiro Martins, presided over the funeral at the head of a college of priests from several parishes. The casket was covered literally by wreaths. Civil, military, naval authorities, presidents of the General Board and City Hall, consular corps in honor of the representative of Turkey and a delegation of the commander of the American Air Forces of Lajes Base were included in the funeral. The mourning was conducted by the Chief of the District Eng. Vasconcelos Raposo, organizing for the cart the following shifts:

The first news to report the death in the newspaper Azores
The first news to report the death in the newspaper Azores
1st Eng. Abel Férin Coutinho, João Luís da Câmara Melo Cabral, João Augusto Rebelo Melo Cabral and Carlos de Aguiar Machado.

2nd Engineer Emiliano Arruda de Castro Carneiro, Hildeberto Torres, Hugo de Lacerda, and António de Aguiar Machado.

3rd Dr. António Manuel de Medeiros Franco, Paulo Lacerda and the dedicated employees Ernesto Furtado Ferreira and Duarte Pereira Araújo.

At the door of the deposit, speeches were made by Dr. Francisco Carreiro, as president of the Regional Commission of Tourism of the Islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria, and by the journalist Dinis Silva who referred to the political career of the deceased.

A primeira noticia a informar o falecimento no Jornal Açores